For When You Need a Good Cry

I personally enjoy crying. Not that dab-your-eyes, trying to alternate being widening them and squinting to soak the tears back in because you are watching a movie with your emotion-free husband and it's not even that sad kind of crying. I think that crying over something truly sad is healthy and cathartic and unites us as humans. I have never had a hard time crying. I remember as a child I would sometimes lay in bed and think about the saddest things, and I could create such vivid pictures that I would inevitably end up in tears, burst into my parents' room and sob "I thought about you dying!" thereby win myself a free pass to sleep with them. I'm a sensitive soul. 

So when I come across blog posts that are truly heart breaking, I save them. Not for any purpose other than to read again and empathize and cry for a little bit. I feel like having a baby made me even more of a sissy, since now I have another heart to break. But I think I will share with you some of my links. 

Sad things happen to everyone, but there are people who capture the sad so well, it is beautiful and worth reading in a way that simply hearing about a tragedy may not be. 

This first one came from a blog where mothers share their birth stories, most of which were at home or done naturally, and all end pretty much the same way - with chubby, screaming, organically-raised babies. This mother went into labor at 23 weeks, her baby only weighing a little more than a pound. Her strength and humor in the story really touches me, as does her faith. I could just hear the words to "This is My Father's World" as I read the end. 

The next one is a blog that Natalie follows. It is so beautiful and touching, every post is a masterpiece. A woman's journey through losing her husband and raising her two children alone. The romance and sweet simplicity of those post has brought it to mind so many times. 

The last one is such a terrible tragedy, such a preventable loss, that it just about scared me to death. The grief of losing a child compounded with the shock of how easily it could happen to any child, in any house in the world, makes this such a haunting, compelling post. This is also a call to action, and I hope those reading it do what they can to protect their own sweet children.

I feel close to all these women because I have cried with them and for them, and I love the way they have reacted and grown from their loss. I only hope that in the face of such pain, I can use words to untangle the knots of my soul and let the tears flow.